today we commemorate the bloodiest day in american history

[lookingland]

september 17, 1862 ~ antietam creek

Estimates vary but center around 23,000 total Americans, Northern and Southern, killed, wounded, or missing during this one days fighting. [T]he count of those who lost their lives because of this single day of battle could exceed 7,000. No other day in American history produced a greater number of casualties. If the battle lasted about 11 hours, 6am to 5pm, that meant on average one casualty inflicted every 1 1/2 seconds. Of those casualties, one man would die for every 5 to 6 seconds of conflict.

The above website is a great tour of the battlefield and what occurred there.

Below: "snow along Bloody Lane"
from fantastic photoblog MidatlanticImages.com



x-posted to uscivilwar

Comments

stunningly horrific

[(Anonymous)]

If ever a place would be haunted, that's it.

m

Re: stunningly horrific

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

of all the battlefields i have visited, it is oddly the most serene. there's an indescribable quiet there. a reverence that seems almost lacking at many of the other preservation sites.

[gwyn-hwyfar.livejournal.com]

Oh! thank you for this reminder....I hadn't even been thinking about the Maryland battles this week :(

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

well it's not like happy-happy-joy-joy to think of them ~ but for whatever reason this one has always been close to my heart.

[gwyn-hwyfar.livejournal.com]

No, definitely not happy-joy..

[sparowe]

I should go out there....

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

indeed! i can't more highly recommend it.

: D

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

I remember the first time I read about Antietam and just being stunned at the loss of life in one single day. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like, standing in the middle of that battlefield as the fight raged on around me. Horrific doesn't even begin to describe it.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

it's really inconceivable that anyone fighting (let alone directing the fight) could see all that carnage and keep pushing forward when the bodies are piled up so thick it's impossible to advance without stepping all over them.

when you consider that more americans were killed at this battle than on d-day, it's sorta mind-blowing.

: o p

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's absolutely inconceivable. To see that sort of death and destruction and still carry on the fight... is it courage or madness? It's very, very mind-blowing.